I Can Be Your Hero
by LunaRinny
Summary: A fragile heart, broken and cold. He is her savior and she is his life. The story of the life and love of Momo Hinamori and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. AU
1. Salt on an Open Wound

I Can Be Your Hero

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_Salt on an Open Wound_

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The streets of the small district of Tokyo were dark on this moonless night; sparse streetlamps were the only source of light. It was well past midnight and the streets were all barren but one, Shijuukara Ave. Two very different people walked down the sidewalk of this street, these two people lived nearly parallel lives and normally they would never meet. They walked opposite ways to their destinations, _home_.

The man was tall and quite muscular with short blue hair and cat like eyes that matched. He kept his head down and had his hand in his pockets, he was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. The woman was petite with brown hair tied up into a bun holder and chocolate colored eyes. She kept her pace quick as she walked, swinging her purse slightly with her small hands, she was Momo Hinamori. As they passed, they glanced over at each other and when their eyes met their nearly parallel lives would be forever entangled.

---

Momo quickly walked down the dimly lit sidewalk, she hated the dark. _'Maybe I should take a shortcut home?'_ she thought as she looked down a small dark alleyway, the _only_ shortcut home. It had on a single flickering light. _'It looks safe enough,'_ she encouraged her self as she took a step into the alleyway. Momo felt a cold chill go up her back and felt uneasy. She brushed it off pretending it was nothing and continued to walk, quickening her pace slightly. As she walked through the alleyway the uneasiness she felt became difficult to ignore. _'It's alright Momo,'_ she tried to calm her self down, '_don't be such baby! You know this part of town like the back of your hand. It's nothing new.'_ she thought as she passed a dumpster on her right. She saw movement but had no time to react and before she could blink an eye she was shoved into the darkness and slammed into the cold brick wall, dropping her bag and its contents on the dirty pavement. She tried to scream but a large cold pale hand covered her mouth.

---

As Grimmjow walked down the street, he felt an unnerving feeling, something was just not right. He decided to turn around and walk back the way he came. Little did he know he would save a fragile heart tonight.

---

In the dark Momo could barely make out the man's features. However, he was very pale almost white he had medium-long black hair. His emerald eyes stared down at her, with lust, and she faintly noticed what looked like green tear marks running down his face.

He pinned her arm over her head and still had his other hand over her mouth while she tried to jerk free. "Hello Momo," he whispered in a husky voice and chuckled as she froze and her brown eyes widened in surprise _'H-how does he know my name?!'_ "Aw, by the look on your face you must not remember me." The black haired man pretended to sound hurt. "It's Ulquiorra from high school!" Her eyes went from shock to fear as his pale hand drifted from her arm over her hips and to her thigh and slowly ran it up her skirt. Momo squirmed as she felt his cold hand moving up her leg. "All those times you turned me down, all the times you rejected me, all because you liked Sousuke Aizen" Momo stopped moving as her brown eyes glazed over, an empty sadness filled them. "I know what he did to you…if only you accepted my offer all those years ago…," he said as he moved his hand back up to her head. He pulled out the ribbon of her bun holder, her brown hair cascaded down to her shoulders almost in slow motion, the green-eyed man took a chunk of her hair and inhaled its sweet scent. "Tonight I will make you mine."

Ulquiorra began to kiss Momo's neck and pulled out a pocket knife. When Momo saw the shine of the knife she whimpered and began to struggle, trying to free herself from his grasp. "It's alright Momo, this isn't for cutting you," He smiled at her, "as long as you're a good girl." he chuckled as he started to cut down her denim skirt. At the sound of each rip Momo's hope faded. Ulquiorra tossed the ripped up skirt aside and ripped open her thin shirt, which hung loosely to her thin shoulders.

He bit down on her neck as he tried to pull down her panties and hot tears formed in Momo's eyes. He kissed down her neck to her collar to Ulquiorra's hand. She felt _helpless_ even so couldn't let him win, her fragile heart raced as she tried to think of something to do, anything. Fight or flight in full swing, adrenaline pumping through out her body. Her dark eyes moved from the hand on her mouth to the one with the knife, he held the knife pointed towards him. _'How foolish, maybe I can…'_ she thought and kicked his hand with the knife; the knife just grazed his leg, enough to cut it. He hissed in pain and let go of his hold on her mouth to grab his bleeding leg. Momo took her chance, possibly her only chance. With her last bit of hope and energy she screamed as loud as she could hoping, praying, someone, anyone would hear. Her scream came out hoarse and quiet. She leaned on the wall sobbing _'No one will hear me!'_

Ulquiorra quickly moved his hand back to her mouth "Too bad you can't scream loud enough, but still we don't want people to find us now do we." He snickered and bit down on her neck again as he tried to unbutton his pants with one hand, her eyes clamped shut _'It's over.'_

---

Grimmjow was walking back the way he came as he heard a faint hoarse scream. He looked up quickly and instantly thought of the woman from before "What the hell was that?" he said out loud. He began to run to were he heard the scream._ 'I hope I'm not to late…'_

---

Momo's eyes filled with tears again _'No one!_' she had lost all hope now, she believed her fate was sealed. She was exhausted and could no longer fight to free herself, helpless. _'I'm always the helpless one…the damsel in distress with no knight in shining armor.' _She just stood there limply there was nothing more she could do, he would get what he wanted, all hope lost.

"What the fuck do you think your doing to her!?" she heard a male voice, it was Grimmjow, he skidded to a stop. _'The man from before,'_ she opened her brown eyes and looked at him with tears in those eyes._ 'He heard me!'_ Ulquiorra looked up surprise on him face but said nothing. "I'll say it again, what the fuck are you doing to her?" he said taking a step closer, he felt a strong need to protect this woman, not only because she was in danger but something else, something deeper.

Ulquiorra chuckled "What does it look like I'm doing? Don't come any closer or I'll kill her." He brought the knife's blade to Momo's throat. She winced when she felt the cold bloody knife on her throat and whimpered.

"You're a sick bastard." Grimmjow hissed out taking a half step closer.

"What are you going to do about it?" Ulquiorra laughed out and brought the blade just a tad bit closer, Momo closed her eyes waiting for the pain.

"This," Grimmjow pulled out a small hand gun, "Get away from her now!" Ulquiorra's eyes widened slightly and moved the knife away from Momo's neck and let her go. Momo slid down the wall sobbing no longer able to hold back her tears. "Go now before I kill you!" Grimmjow moved closer to Momo with the gun pointed at Ulquiorra.

"I'll be back, don't you worry and I will have her." he said limping away into the darkness, the blue-haired man snarled at his retreating form and turned to Momo.

"Are you alright?" Grimmjow asked quietly as he knelt down**, **careful not to get too close so he wouldn't frighten the brown-eyed woman.

"Yes." She said weakly and stood up quickly, she felt light headed and brought her hand to her head, with out another warning she blacked out. Grimmjow swiftly moved to her side and caught her carefully. He looked at the woman in his arms, she was so beautiful to him, so innocent. He became angry as he looked at her tear stained face and the bite marks on her neck, That bastard made her cry. _'Damn him'_ Grimmjow cursed silently and shrugged off his jacket and covered her exposed body. _'I guess I'll take her to my apartment. I can't trust her anywhere else with Ulquiorra lurking around.' _He thought as he picked her up bridal style and carried her to his home.

---

Momo awoke in a strange bed dazed and alone, she felt like she had been sleeping for days. Momo was still traumatized and like most people she had mostly blocked out the memory of the previous night, only remembering bits and pieces. _'Where am I, why am I here?'_ she wondered, a bit distressed, as she sat up and looked around the large room. The first thing she noticed was the room was like a music room, the bed was at a lower level then everything else, everything else was three steps up. Across from the bed was a big sliding door which she figured was the closet, to her left was a large out cove with a huge window with a beautiful view of the small district, and to her right was an ordinary door _'that must be the way out.'_ She was going to make a move to the door when she felt a weight on her feet. She looked down to find, curled on her feet, a cat he was a blue grey color with a poofy tail.

"Aw you're cute!" She said and the cat looked up and purred at her, she pet his head gently. "You remind me of my kitty." He hopped to the middle of the bed and laid on his back and rolled back and forth as she pet his belly. When she stopped petting his head he meowed at her, Momo meowed back him and giggled.

"Meow." A monotone voice said behind her, she squeaked and fell backwards off the bed. "Whoa are you ok?!" Grimmjow said setting the tray of food he was holding "I didn't mean to scare you, sorry." He said, squatting down to help her up.

"Ouch, its ok." She said as he helped her up and she began rubbing her now sore butt and realized she wasn't in her own clothes. She was now wearing sweat pants too big for her that she had to hold up and a huge tee-shirt. "D-did you put these on me?" She pointed to said clothes blushing a bit.

"Well yeah, would you have been more comfortable sleeping in your undies?" He said as sat on the bed and took a pancake from the tray he brought in and bit into it.

"N-no, but…" She said as she sat on the bed, "wait… undies?" She giggled.

"Yes undies, got a problem with the word?" He laughed and handed her a plate of pancakes "Here eat you must be hungry. I made them just for you."

"Yeah I'm starving! I didn't even have dinner last night!" She was about to take a bite but stopped.

"What's wrong?" Grimmjow asked looking at her curiously "They aren't poisonous if that's what you think." He laughed.

"Do they have cinnamon in them?" She asked poking them.

"Nope just chocolate chips, why you don't like cinnamon?" He asked as he took another bite.

"No I'm highly allergic to cinnamon" She replied as she smothered the pancakes in syrup. He laughed lightly at this and took another bite. After eating a little Momo remembered something "Um…" she said trying to get Grimmjow's attention. "I just realized we had a random conversation and you're feeding me but, I have no idea who you are and you don't know who I am," she laughed, "so I guess I'll start, I'm Momo Hinamori."

"Nice to meet you Momo, I'm Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez." He said holding out his hand. She just looked at him, her mouth covered in syrup, cheeks puffed out like a hording hamster and a fork in one hand and a butter knife in the other. Grimmjow couldn't contain his laughter.

"Wha so unny?" She asked with her mouth full glaring a bit.

"You have," he said pointing to his own face and laughed ad she used her hand to wipe her face but ended up making a stickier mess. "I'll help you." He said as he dips a napkin in his water cup and wiped off her face. He then grabbed her hand and wiped it off, his hand lingering on hers longer than necessary.

Noticing this Momo blushed and quickly pulled her hand away looking away from Grimmjow and back to the cat. "Umm so what's your cat's name?" She said petting the purring cat.

"Umm…well his name is Grimmkitty" He said and she burst into a giggle fit. "Hey don't laugh at me I didn't name him. My friend Ichigo and his girlfriend got him for me because they said I was lonely and they named him that, it just stuck." He said trying to explain himself.

"I see. Ichigo, as in Ichigo Kurosaki?" she asked looking at him curiously

"Huh? Oh yeah that's him stupid orange haired nut we all love." He said sarcastically and laughed "So how do you know him?"

"His girlfriend, Rukia, is my best friend." She said as she took a sip of orange juice. "So Grimmkitty," she said in a baby voice giggling and put down the cup, he purred at her and she pet his belly, Grimmjow watched her smiling.

"You like it here?" He said in a low voice, she looked him confused "Uh I um, you don't mind I brought you here to my apartment and put you in my bed and dressed you right?" He said nervously, his azure eyes trying not to look into her brown ones, he could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks. _'What the hell is wrong with me?! Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez does NOT blush! What am I a sissy?'_

She looked at him and smiled. "I don't really remember what happened last night, but I know you saved me. I'm grateful that you helped me and I never got the chance to say thank you so thank you." They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence, after they had finished for a while they just sat in an awkward silence and Grimmjow couldn't stand it any longer.

"Uh, Momo," Grimmjow said as she looked at him. "I need to run something over to Ichigo for work." He got off the bed and picked up his brief case that was leaning on the night stand. "It won't take to long, make your self at home." He waved at her when he left the room and locked the front door as he left. When Momo heard him close the front door she hopped off the bed to explore his room. The first thing she noticed it was really clean for a mans room, she expected a single male to have food boxes everywhere and so many clothes on the floor you couldn't even see it, but that's not the case with Grimmjow's room it was so clean it practically sparkled.

She climbed the stairs and walked over to the dresser, she ran her hand along the smooth dark stained wood and looked in the mirror, she was a mess. Her chocolate eyes scanned herself in the mirror when her eyes moved to her neck she just stared there was a large deep purple and blue mark, she touched it, her fingers trembling, making sure it was real. She lightly pressed on the bruise, now regretting it as she hissed in pain. She began to remember more moments of the night before, wishing they had stayed in the back of her mind. Momo sobbed loudly, leaning on the dresser for support. The vivid memories and the fear flooded back to her mind, seeming almost real. Momo looked back into the mirror, right into her own tear filled eyes, with dark circles around the bottom, and tried composed her self, but the memories kept replaying over and over. She could hear the ripping of the denim skirt, she could feel his cold pale hands touching her and his lips on her skin. The brown haired girl sobbed for a short time longer before she shook her head shaking away the thoughts of _him_.

When she looked at her hair she smiled, it was a mess, it was going every which way and it looked like a rats nest "I look like a mad scientist!" she exclaimed aloud giggling at herself. Momo searched around the top of the dresser for a brush of any kind, when she found one she began to brush the matted mess on her head _'Grimmjow wont mind I used this.'_ Once she finished her hair she poked around the dresser and found some cologne '_this looks super fancy'_ she thought as she picked one up _'and I never heard of this brand before…maybe its American or French?' _she took off the cap and tried to smell it but it didn't work _'Hmmm maybe I have to spray it?' _she pushed down the pump and sprayed a small amount onto her wrist "Mm!" She said out loud and sprayed more onto her and giggled, "this smells really good!"

When she was done she set the bottle down and explored more of his room. She went over to his nightstand and picked up one of the picture frames, it was a newer frame and it had a picture of Ichigo, Rukia, a couple of people she didn't know and Grimmjow. It looked like it was new years, there was confetti and everyone looked happy except Grimmjow, sure he smiled for the picture but he was all alone. She stared at the picture a little while longer and set it down and picked up the one next to it.

This picture was in an older frame and the picture looked old, there was a small blue haired boy standing next to a tall beautiful woman. She had the same color blue hair and it was very long, she wore a white sun hat and a short sleeve light purple sun dress with white flowers all over it and simple white sandals. The boy wore a blue dress shirt and simple black dress pants and black shoes. She assumed the boy was Grimmjow and the woman was his mother. _'She's so beautiful.' _She thought as she stared at the smiling woman in the picture.

She set the picture down carefully and wondered out of the room with Grimmkitty following closely behind. She came into a hallway-like area and most likely his living room because the room had a huge flat screen TV on the wall and below it was a fake fire place. He had a leather sofa and matching love seat. _'What the hell does he do for a living?!'_ Forgetting that he had run over to Ichigo's house to drop something off for work, she meandered over to the TV and opened the DVD cabinet. He had every game system under the sun "Typical boy." She giggled and closed the cabinet. She wondered through an arch way that lead to the kitchen. She expected another mess but it was just as clean as his room and everything looked new. She opened the refrigerator and poked around in it, it was full of fresh food and not random junk. She closed the refrigerator and walked back into the hallway.

She was walking back to Grimmjow's room when she passed a slightly ajar door, curious she poked the door open and peeped her head in. _'his office.'_ She stepped into the room, the wall on her left was covered will bookcases filled to the brim with books. Many of the books had a heavy coating of dust. She picked up one and dusted it off a bit so she could read the name "The World Encyclopedia." She said aloud and opened the book. It was very old, the pages browned with age, and some of the information was wrong but none the less it was still pretty cool. She slid it back into its place on the shelf and walked over to his desk. It was a large desk stained a deep color. She ran her fingers over the desk and sat in his chair. She spun around one in it giggling and grabbed the desk to stop her self. She stared at the mess of papers on the desk and picked one up, she has seen something like this before at Ichigo and Rukia's house and it clicked. "He's and architect" she said out loud

"Yeah I am" Grimmjow said leaning on the door frame smiling slightly.

"Ah!" She screamed almost falling out of the chair she was sitting in. "You're really good at scaring me aren't you?"

"I try." He joked chuckling a bit. "So you like that design? It's my newest creation." He said pointing at the paper she still had in her hand.

"Yeah, I'm s-sorry I was just curious and umm sorry…" She said meekly looking at the floor and put the paper back on the desk, his smile widened

"I don't mind, sorry it took me so long." He sauntered over to her "I told Ichigo what happened last night, I hope that's ok with you."

"Yeah it's alright, Ichigo is my friend beside he would find out eventually after I tell Rukia and you're a hero so you should have some gloating rights, right?" She giggled and leaned on the desk with her elbows smiling at him.

"I wouldn't gloat, that's just being an ass hole, besides I'm no hero." He scratched the back of his head.

"You are a hero," she said standing quickly and hugged him "my hero!" she said into his chest.

Grimmjow wasn't prepared for the hug and almost fell backwards. He stared at the woman hugging him, smiled, and then hugged her back. He breathed in her sent and smelled something familiar. "Momo, are you wearing my cologne?" he said looking right at her laughing lightly.

"Well you see," She blushed and pulled away from him "I wanted to smell it so I took off the cap and it didn't work so I sprayed some on my wrist and I thought it smelled good so sprayed it all over me, I'm sorry!" She said in one breath.

"Its alright, I'm glad you like it. It was specially made to match the way I smell, only women who like the way I smell sweaty will really like it." He smirked at her "it's good to know your one of those lovely ladies." He said in a smooth voice and she could feel her cheeks turned deeper rouge. "Oh don't think I can't see you blushing missy, your thinking dirty things aren't you" He smiled wider.

She gasped a little and grabbed a paper off the desk and hid behind it so only her eyes came over it. "You're cheating you Meanie." She giggled.

"You're a dirty girl." He snickered earning a smack in the back of the head, he just stuck his tongue out at her. "Aw I'm just teasing you, Momo."

"Well meh!" She said from behind the paper.

"But really are you thinking dirty things?" He asked completely serious earning another hit to the head. "Haha hey, I was really wondering woman but I guess I got my answer." He smiled smugly.

"Meh shut up you!" She laughed out and he laughed with her. After laughing for a few moments they fell into a some what uncomfortable silence for the second time that day.

Grimmjow hating these situations had to speak up. "Hey what do you say we go to your place so you can change and we go out to lunch?" She smiled and nodded "Alright I'll go get your things," he said and walked down the hall to his room. He picked up her flip-flops and her large purse. _'Why are women's purses so big?'_ He said slowly opening her bag and peeked inside _'WHOA ok now I know!'_ He closed the bag quickly with a red face and wide eyes.

Momo stood in the open doorway tapping her foot. "You shouldn't snoop in a lady's bag" She laughed and took her bag and flip-flops from him. "It's rude."

"Heh your one to talk miss nosy pants snooping around my office."

"Hey you said make your self at home so I did." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, yeah let's just go before I embarrass my self any more." He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the door.

"Wait! These pants keep falling down!" He stopped and she hiked the sweatpants up to her chest. "Ok let's go!" She walked out of the apartment.

"Haha you look like an old lady with your pants that high." He chuckled and followed her out the door.

"Meh, I do not!"

---

They walked down the crowed street to Momo's apartment. Grimmjow looked around at all the faces they passed. _'Not one of these people knows what pain Momo just went through last night.' _He pushed back the memories of last night to the back of his head, now wasn't the time to think of those things. His blue eyes wandered over to the small woman trying to hold her pants up and walk at the same time and at people who gave her strange looks.

"Are we almost to your apartment woman?" He yelled above the hustle and bustle of the city and glared at all the people giving Momo funny looks.

"Almost!" She shouted back, the blue haired man frowned. This part of the district was one of the worst parts. Many of the apartment buildings were run down and very old. _'What's a girl like her living in a place like this? It's like finding Diamond in the Rough.' _Grimmjow wondered as they turned a corner down a small road that looked almost like an alley way.

"Here we are!" She stopped in front of a small stoop and walked up it. It was one of the worst apartment buildings he had ever seen, it looked like it was about to crumble to pieces, even so he followed the brown eyed girl up the crooked steps and into the building. Inside it smelled musty like old leather bound books and the walls were chipping its light blue paint, faded with time. Everything in the room seemed faded, worn away and depressing.

There was no elevator in the building, only a black spiral staircase. It was really beautiful, the only thing that stood out in the dim room. The brown eyed girl glided up the steps with Grimmjow following suit. "So, you live… here?" The blue-haired man asked with caution not wanting to sound conceited.

"Mhm, in fact I lived only two blocks down from here when I was a child." She said smiling her mind spacing out remembering all the good memories. Back when her father was alive and when her brother actually smiled. Momo was so lost in thought she missed a step and started to fall back, she waited for the pain to come but it never did. Grimmjow had caught her under her arms and he looked down at her.

"You fall a lot, you know that?" He stared at her as she giggled, he helped her back up and they started to walk up the staircase. _'She's so beautiful.' _

"Yeah I know," she began to swing her purse back and forth, "I never have anyone to catch me though." His blue eyes stared at her and he couldn't tear them away. "Um, Grimmjow? Is something wrong?" Momo waved her small hand in his face.

"Oh sorry I uh, was spacing out." Grimmjow tried to cover the fact he was staring at her and changed the subject. "How much further, it feels like it's been ninety years!" the blue haired man joked.

"The fifth story so three more flights." She giggled as Grimmjow let out a huge sigh.

"I'm getting dizzy." He whined jokingly.

"Suck it up cupcake this is the last flight of stairs." She said as they finally reached the fifth floor. She reached into her purse and pulled out her keys.

"Finally, that was torture!" Grimmjow exclaimed falling to the ground and pretended to kiss it like it was sacred.

"Oh get up you big goof." She hit him lightly with her purse and walked up to the door marked 13. _'How cliché.'_ Grimmjow thought as he looked at the number on the door. "I should warn you about Lucy, she hate men with a burning passion. Even Ichigo fears to tread in my apartment because of her." She turned the door knob and walked in.

"Now is Lucy a woman or an animal? If it's a woman I'm scared." The blue-haired man laughed following right behind the brown-haired woman.

"Haha very funny," she remarked sarcastically. "She's my cat." They walked all the way inside. Momo's apartment was very small, the living room had a little brown couch and a simple coffee table, with magazines strewn on it, and an end table with a oriental style lamp. The living room led right into the kitchen which had a mini fridge, a toaster, and a microwave. It also other essentials and there was limited counter space. The tiny girl walked down a thin hallway to her bedroom. "Make your self at home!" she said as she closed the door to her room.

'_The Ceiling hangs low, but Momo probably doesn't notice because she's so short._' Grimmjow thought, chuckling, as he looked around the tiny room. He heard a soft meow from behind the brown couch and wandered over to it and knelt down beside it. A small cat popped its head out and meowed at him angrily.

"You must be Lucy, the man-eater." He laughed as she tilted her head in a way that made her looked confused. She wiggled her way out from her hiding spot, she was white with blotches of light tan over her body and her left ear was light tan and a black spot covered her nose and the front of her snout.

"You're a pretty one, just like your owner." She came up to him and rubbed her head on his leg "I thought you hated men," he pet her soft fur. "I must be special if you like me so much." She meowed and walked down the hall, he watched her and stood up. She came back and meowed louder at him and walked a few steps and turned around meowing at him.

"You want me to follow you?" He asked the cat and she seemed to nod and walk slowly down the hall checking behind her to see if Grimmjow was following her.

The blue-haired man followed Lucy down the dark hallway that led to a single door. The small cat scratched the door and meowed, Grimmjow opened the door and she scampered into the room. The bright light streamed out into the dark hallway Grimmjow squinted his blue eyes as he peered into the room. The light streamed into the room through a large window that over looked the dirty street and buildings below. Paint brushes and bottles of various paint were scattered on tables and shelves along the walls. In the center of the room had the most beautiful paintings Grimmjow had ever seen in his entire life. They were set out on easels a few hanging on the walls, many of them being portraits of families and daffodils, they where beautiful. One painting stuck out to him, it had a lot of dark colors in it in it was a man, looking dirty and a mess like the world had forgotten him. But under it all, in spite of the dreariness that surrounded him, he had a big toothy smile, it reminded him of Momo's smile.

A loud meow interrupted his thoughts. The blue haired man's eyes wandered over to Lucy, she was pawing at an tattered small red oriental rug that looked like it had been placed hap-hazardly on the floor _'Hmm that's odd that Momo would put a rug there.'_ She wandered over to it and knelt down petting Lucy. "What is it, Lucy?" he asked the pretty molly cat. She mewed at him and pawed at the rug "…is something under it?" he asked her she purred and rubbed his leg as if saying yes. Grimmjow picked Lucy off the rug and placed her on the floor he then began to lift the rug. His eyes widened and the blood drained from his face, under the rug the floor was stained a deep maroon "b-blood?"

"What are you doing?" Momo's small voice angrily gasped out as she came over and recovered the stain

"Momo, what was that…was it blood?" Grimmjow asked her, concern filled his blue eyes as he stared at her.

"I…I…it's a very long story, Grimmjow" she said quietly all anger gone form her voice. Lucy purred gently and rubbed against Momo's leg to comfort her.

"I have time." Grimmjow said crossing his arms still looking at her with concern

"Not now…I'm not ready to talk about that…" she whispered but loud enough for him to hear.

"Alright but…will you tell me who's blood it is?" he asked placing a hand on her arm.

She looked him right in the eyes, her chocolate colored eyes glazed over with sadness as she uttered one single word, "Mine."

0o0

Finally done, it took me a while just to type it up haha. Thanks to my beta, Ru! comment please, tell me if you like it


	2. Bad Romance

_Ah long awaited chapter! I'm sorry it took so long, life and procrastination just got in the way, I am also sorry its short! But enjoy!_

I Can Be Your Hero

0o0

_Bad Romance_

0o0

Her chocolate brown eyes glazed over, sadness and despair took over, her memory dragged her to her darkest fear… _Him_. Her fear of Ulquiorra paled in comparison to the fear she had of _Him_. _His_ heart was nothing but a black hole sucking her in and spiting her out, _he_ cared for no living thing but _himself_. Deeper and deeper she was dragged into the horror of her memories, back to the day she can never forget but so deeply wished she could.

0o0

_That fateful day 5 years ago…_

_Momo Hinamori was young, happy and healthy and finally an adult. Today was her nineteenth birthday. By the time she woke up her father had already left for work but he had left her a card and a small cupcake on the table. She put a candle in the cupcake and lit it. She made a wish, that her knight in shining armor would love her forever. Such a childish thing to wish but she wished it. Her knight in shining was Him, Aizen Sousuke._

_He was her high school sweet heart, two years ahead of her. Aizen was everything a girl could ask for. Sweet, kind, generous, and very handsome but what they didn't know is that he kept a dark secret, even from Momo, that he was the leader of a horrible gang called the Espada. Even Momo's father was in this horrible gang, to help pay for the things they needed to live._

_Momo blew out the candle and ate her cupcake in the quiet apartment. Once she finished she opened the card and read it, smiling from ear to ear at her father's kind written words. She put the card down and began to clean the small place she called home._

_Empty warehouse on the outskirts of town_

"_Aizen-sama, I want to speak with you for a moment," an older man with short brown hair and striking blue-green eyes walked over to Aizen, he had to be in his late fifties as for his brown hair already began turning grey._

"_What is it Hinamori-san?" Aizen turned to him staring him down like a hungry hawk looking at a small mouse._

"_I-I wanted to ask you if I could leave the gang…I'm getting to old for this and I can't keep doing this to Momo, she knows, I can't do this to my baby girl…" his voice faded off, every one of the Espada were staring at him in shock._

"_What?" Aizen asked anger lingered in his voice "What did you just say to me? You know the rules of my gang Hinamori-san, no one gets out…alive." _

"_I-I know, but since you are with my daughter I thought you would be able to understand, please Aizen-sama, it's for her." _

_Aizen stared at him, his cold gaze staring long and hard as if judging the man in front of him. "Fine you may leave," he said smiling there was a long pause, "kill him." before the older man could react two shots were fired into his back. His body fell hard, his blood staining the cold concrete floor._

_He never got to tell her happy birthday to her face…_

_Her brown eyes flicked from the paints to the canvas as she carefully and artfully moved her brush. She stopped and stood back from her finally finished masterpiece, a painting of her dear father. "Finally." She smiled at the painting and set her brushes down. She heard the front door open, then slam shut. She turned her head to the doorway and peered out. "Daddy, is that you?"_

_Aizen walked into the shabby apartment; though he had been here a couple of times before today it looked twice as disgusting. "No it's me, Sosuke. Where are you?"_

_Momo smiled wide "I'm painting, in the art room!" she giggled and quickly washed the paint off her hands. _

_Aizen moved to the 'art room' as Momo liked to call it; he tried not to touch anything as he moved down the narrow hallway and opened the door. As soon as he opened the door he was attacked, the small brunette embraced him nuzzling her head in his chest, his arms stayed at his side. She looked up at him "How has your day been?" she asked staring at him with her warm chocolate eyes, he stared down at her a cold hard stare. "W-what's wrong?"_

"_Momo," he spoke, pushing her away from him, "this isn't going to work out."_

"_W-what," her voice cracked, "what do you mean?" Her eyes began to tear up 'Why today?' _

_He let out an annoyed sigh, "Momo, it's over. We are over."_

_She couldn't hold back any longer. "Why, why, w-why!" She said between sobs._

"_You are of no use to me, simple as that. You are now a nuisance." His cold tone remained, he had no regrets._

_Those words burned her heart, 'everything he said was a lie, he was just using me.' Momo wiped her eyes "I-I thought you loved me…" _

"_Well you thought wrong."_

"_Why today? Why not yesterday or the day before, why on my birthday?" _

"_Because I killed your father, sooner or later you would find out. I can't have someone who knows about it stay alive. I thought it would be best I broke ties with you so you would not feel betrayed." _

"_W-what?" She gasped moving away from him._

_He moved closer taking out a knife. "This is goodbye, Momo Hinamori," he stabbed her in the chest, her warm blood spilled over his hands. "Oh and Daddy says 'happy birthday my sweet pea.'" _

_Momo felt her blood flow out of her, the pain was unbearable. She tried to scream but only gurgles came out. Her eyes felt heavy as she moved them to look at the man she once loved, he smiled down at her as he ripped the knife from her. She fell to the ground face first, he let out a laugh and walked out. Her blood pooled around her staining the floor, as his footsteps faded so did her vision. Her world went black, she could hear screams and sirens, she felt like she was so heavy but weightless. _

As Momo came back to the present her head was spinning, she fell over into Grimmjow's waiting arms. "Momo?" He asked softly, she sobbed into him clutching his shirt. He didn't know what to do or say he didn't even know what just happened. '_I'll wait to ask her about it…_' "It's ok Momo," he hugged her as tried his best to comfort her, "why don't we go get our lunch now? Hm?"

She looked up at him, he was smiling down at her, almost like _he _was but this time it was genuine. "Y-yes." She nodded rubbing her tears off her face. "I'm really hungry!"

She started towards the door with Grimmjow not far behind watching her with his light blue eyes '_What the hell just happened?'_ He looked back at the little rug covering the blood stain as he walked out of the room. _'What is she hiding?_'

They silently walked to a beautiful café called, Tobiume. Tobiume was truly a beautiful place; it sat on the corner only a few blocks from Momo's run-down apartment. Tobiume was like a gem in a pile of coal, it looked like it didn't belong in such a place. In front were two plum trees in full bloom and bearing fruit, oh how she hated plums.

"Isn't it a little early for them to be bearing fruit?" Grimmjow said looking at the trees.

"Those? No those two trees always bloom and bear fruit, the only time they don't is in winter, we don't know why." Momo answered and walked into the café with Grimmjow following close behind, as she opened the door the bells on the top of the door rung and an excited waitress with long green hair and large assets bounded over.

"Hello and welcome to Tobiume…Oh Momo, I thought you were a customer!" The woman giggled at her mistake.

"Hey Nel," Momo spoke in a soft tone, "can we have a window seat…away from people?" Momo stared at her feet; she didn't like all the people around her.

"Sure thing hun," Nel's green eyes looked at her with concern, "anything for you." Nel picked up two menus and walked over to a table near a window far from other customers with the other two following her. "Tah-Dah! Now don't have too much fun you two." She winked and bounded away giggling.

Momo rolled her eyes and sat down, the table was white and round with two chairs, in the center was a small clear vase with two daffodils in it. Momo pushed her menu aside without even opening it.

"Well she is a happy one." Grimmjow chuckled. "So do you come here a lot?" He scanned the menu.

"You could say that," Momo played with her napkin as she spoke, "I work here."

"Oh really? That's cool, then you can tell me what's the best thing on the menu." He smiled at her and she gave him a faint smile back. He couldn't get what she said out of his head, no matter how much she smiled that one word played in his head like a broken record, 'mine.'

Before Momo could answer Nel came bounding back. "You two ready to order?" she asked sweetly

"Just a water and the usual please." Momo answered handing back her menu to Nel.

Nel wrote something down in her note pad and looked to Grimmjow signaling she was ready for him. "How about you, hot stuff." she giggled at him twirling her hair and smiling wide. Momo's head hit the table…repeatedly.

"I'll have what she's having." He answered, unimpressed. Nel nodded and bounded away again. He looked to Momo, "that's not good for your brain cells is it?" She glared at him for a few moments but then looked away. He sighed in the moment of silence. "So what did I order?" He laughed nervous of what the answer might be, he played with his silverware.

"A turkey wrap and fries." She made her fork attack his, she giggled as they had an 'epic' battle on the table.

"I'm gonna win," he chuckled but Momo stabbed his hand lightly with the fork, "Oh ouch you got me, bleh!" He laid his hand down flat, playing dead.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She took his hand and examined it.

"Got you!" he grabbed her wrist, leaning across the table he kissed her cheek, "I win." He stuck out his tongue as he sat back down in his chair.

Her eyes were wide and she blushed a deep crimson. "Cheater." She muttered as Nel came back with their food and drinks.

"Two of Momo's regulars," she put it down and winked at Grimmjow.

Momo had to shoo her away before they started to eat their meal in silence. She wouldn't look at him but he kept his eyes on her as she stared at her food and to the window and back again. She looked so lost and so alone even in this room full of people, even with him sitting right across from her. He wanted to make her smile as much as he could, even if it was only for a moment so he did what he thought was right. He burped.

"Excuse me!" He joked, it worked she smiled wide and giggled. Between her giggles she burped louder than he had. "Whoa, what do you say missy?"

"Nothing punk." She opened her purse and took out her leopard print wallet.

"What do you think you're doing?" Grimmjow eyed her wallet as he pulled out his own. "I'm paying, shorty."

"Grimmjow, you have done so much for me. Please let me pay." She took out the amount needed.

"Nope." He denied her protests, "I'll pay it."

"Can we at least go Dutch?" She offered him half.

"No, this is Japan and in Japan we are chivalrous and pay all of it. You won't have to spend a penny when I'm here." He smirked at her obvious glare.

"That's so sexist! I'm not completely helpless!" She crossed her arms and glared some more.

"I know that." He stood picking up his things.

"There is no changing your mind when you have it set, huh?" She sighed and shook her head smiling faintly.

"Nope!" He exclaimed, "oh Momo here." He jotted something down on a scrap of paper and slid it over to her. "That's my cell number, call me if you need me or just want to talk. Alright?"

She nodded and put it into her purse. "I will."

They walked back to her apartment in silence, which seemed to be a recurring theme with them. Grimmjow wasn't ever sure if he should break it or not, he never liked it though. They walked up those stairs again, he wasn't sure he would ever get used to them. They stood in front of her door; there was an awkward air around them. Grimmjow never felt awkward around women, only her.

"So, I'll see you around?" He asked and she nodded and smiled. "You sure? You are alright with being alone? We can call Rukia and have her come over…"

"No, it's alright Grimmjow. I'm a big girl." She opened the door. "Bye...," she said in almost a whisper. He waved at the closing door and put his hands into his pockets and headed to the stairs.

Momo leaned against the door when she was sure he was gone and sobbed. Her legs wobbled and could no longer hold her weight as she slid to the floor. Her heavy tears hit the floor, little bombs exploding as they hit the old wood beneath her.

Lucy padded over to her brown haired owner, rubbing her head against Momo, trying to sooth her. Momo curled into and ball and hugged Lucy as she purred, though her tears still flowed out like a river that lost its Dam.

"It's always me," she choked out, "always." Her cries echoed down the staircase.

Grimmjow stopped walking and closed his blue eyes, "That bastard is going to pay." He clenched his fists tightly.

0o0

Chapter two is finished! Thank you to my Beta Ru! Please read and review, Constructive criticism is always welcome!


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